A CASE STUDY OF PROFESSIONAL STAFF DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES IN A SUBURBAN SCHOOL DISTRICT IN SOUTHEASTERN PENNSYLVANIA DURING THE 1982-1983 SCHOOL YEAR

Abstract

This study investigated the types of activities in a school district that involved professional staff development to determine their scope, quality and effectiveness. This study focused on four components of staff development: (1) the nature of teacher learners; (2) school organizational development; (3) politics; and (4) purposes--and their interrelationships.^ This study provided all the participants, including the researcher, teachers and administrators, with the opportunity to not only discuss their conscious perceptions of professional development but to tell stories and describe their feelings about their position and the events and people which shape it.^ An inductive, naturalistic methodology which focused on people--their beliefs, opinions, attitudes, motivations, and behaviors--and library research was utilized in this study. This study was exploratory and descriptive in that the primary concerns were to: (1) identify and describe activities which directly or indirectly work to improve or impede teacher performance; (2) identify and describe teachers and administrator's perceptions of staff development; and (3) to discover the critical factors involved and the relationship between them. Library research and study methodology which incorporated the following methods and techniques were utilized: (1) observation; (2) teacher interviews; (3) artifact analysis; and (4) administrator interviews.^ A review of the data and library research provided the foundation for twenty guidelines on planning and evaluating effective staff development activities. These guidelines emphasize that future staff development efforts must: (1) rely on a variety of information sources; (2) allow for many different attitudes; (3) provide for long chains of events, and (4) have the willingness of teachers and providers to flex with unplanned problems. ^

Subject Area

Education, Administration

Recommended Citation

SEITZ, LEROY ERNEST, "A CASE STUDY OF PROFESSIONAL STAFF DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES IN A SUBURBAN SCHOOL DISTRICT IN SOUTHEASTERN PENNSYLVANIA DURING THE 1982-1983 SCHOOL YEAR" (1985). Dissertations available from ProQuest. AAI8611024.
https://repository.upenn.edu/dissertations/AAI8611024